Someone Asks “What Are You Convinced People Are Pretending To Enjoy?” And 35 People Answer
Trends come and go, and most people want to feel included in them, which probably results in a lot of them pretending to like something just to fit in. It seems that whenever you don't like something that's very popular you're met with "what?!" or just get labeled as a hipster. So this Redditor decided to ask an important and fun question: "What are you convinced people are pretending to enjoy?"
People were quick to jump in and give their honest answers. Some named some really popular things that a lot of people seem to like, while some named some more peculiar and specific ones. If you have an answer yourself, feel free to share it in the comment section below! And if you liked this post, click here for a similar one.
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Nothing. People legitimately have different tastes. Just let people enjoy their IPAs/gin/pickles/spicy food/whatever. If that's not your thing, have something else.
The Kardashians.
I'd rather watch paint dry. At least you can see the texture of the paint change, and the little drippy bulbs run down the wall.
We asked Patrice Oppliger, Ph.D., some questions about this topic, and she gave some amazing insights: "I agree there are significant social pressures. One of the theories we teach is the theory of reasoned action - that it appears someone's attitude does not match their behaviors; however, there is a social norm element.
I think people often 'fake it until they make it' or are simply giving something a try. I recall not caring for Schitt's Creek initially. Everyone kept telling me to stick with it. It's one of my all-time favorite shows."
Bars and restaurants with loud music and terrible acoustics. What’s the point in being social in a place where they’re trying to make it hard for you to socialize?
Somehow I have a hard time thinking a packed club/bar/restaurant is full of people pretending to enjoy themselves. It's not for me, but as they say, "different strokes for different folks".
"There is also cognitive dissonance at play. When one invests time and energy into a hobby, for example, they may convince themselves they enjoy it because if not, they are inconsistent and have wasted time."
Reality TV. How is watching garbage people complain about their lives entertainment?
Those big spider-leg eyelashes they pay for and put on.
There’s a part in a Christopher Moore book where he refers to one of his characters batting her eyelashes like “a convulsing wolf spider” and this is why I love his work. 😂
"It's generally benign to pretend to like something. The individual may not want to offend others who genuinely like it, or it is something that connects them to others. We all have the desire to fit in. It's a survival tactic. Where there may be some harm is if the activity is hurting others - something that includes racism or sexism, for example.
In my study of humor (The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy: Oppliger & Shouse, 2020, Palgrave), I find that laughing at a joke may appear to signal enjoyment - but it could also be politeness, discomfort, or peer pressure. For example, Will Smith's facial expression appeared to signal his enjoyment of Chris Rock's joke about Smith's wife."
3 hour long church services. Jesus gave the sermon on the mound in like 5 minutes. Get over your ego pastor!
The Happy Birthday song. Everyone feels awkward singing it, and awkward having it sung at them. Can we please just not?
I refuse to allow people to sing me happy birthday. It's one of the reasons why I gave up birthdays (a bit overkill, sure).
Long-a*s, boring videos of their friends' kids.
Holiday videos... ,"And here's my big toe on the beach in Malta", looks at you in excited expectation of your glowing appraisal.. boring as F.
Reaction videos. Why would anyone care how a stranger reacts to something? Most of the time, the reaction isn't even real and just played up for the camera.
Live action remakes
The first Jungle Book film was live action in 1942 starring Sabu. The cartoon was the remake.
Open relationships. I'm sure there's some genuine believers but I wonder how many partners are opening up their relationship to keep their partner and just are afraid to be alone and date again. When I see couples talk about it it always looks like one person is way more into it than the other.
Having constant drama at work, in friend groups, and elsewhere really can't be all that exciting... can it? If I have one friend causing me too much drama I usually avoid it like it's the plague.
Podcasts where the hosts just laugh at everything they/other hosts/guests say. Nothing is that funny for that long, dude.
Clubbing. It's loud, there's 50 people all up in your space constantly, the music sucks half the time, the alcohol is watered down, there's so many drunk people that have to be either carried out or they puke all over the sidewalk outside, everything is overpriced. Literally nothing about it is good enough to warrant doing it repeatedly.
Same, it's weird how that changes. I used to love going out to clubs, but now you would have to force me.
LinkedIn.
I'm honoured and humbled to have had this great new opportunity to comment on this post! It has really made my career trajectory worthwhile!
Twitter.
I can't comprehend why anyone would WANT to "tweet"
I love shouting into the void (aka tweeting). It's a great way of getting stuff nobody cares about off your chest without boring my SO. In the case of this particular example, someone bemoaning twitter who is posting on reddit is like moaning about fast food when in McDonalds.
Trying to make everything Instagram ready.
I've fallen in that trap before, deleted everything but Reddit.
I'm much happier now living in the moment, watching my kids play instead of taking photos of them, eating my food instead of standing above it trying to take a picture in a crowded restaurant.
Once you stop feeding your ego, a lot of worry stops with it.
As someone who doesn’t have baby pictures, or pictures of myself younger. I take a lot of pictures of my kids, however I don’t post it on Instagram. I think it’s kinda dangerous to really put pictures out of your kids and they’re too young to consent having their photos everywhere.
Abstract modern art. You know, the orange square on a blank canvas type thing. “It really speaks to me.” 🤨
American talent shows like quite literally “America’s got talent”, and “American Idol”. Who the f**k are these shows catered to? The dialogue is cheesy, idiotic, and fake as f**k and the structure doesn’t make sense. Back then it had categories and the contestants would compete against their own groups which at least made it somewhat interesting. Now? Anything f*****g goes, and you could have a wanna-be jabawacky dance group of about 20 people Vs little Timmy playing a harmonica with his a*****e. It makes no god damn sense.
Anything that requires an insane amount of waiting in line. Amusement parks, brunches at fancy places, night clubs, etc.
Like, you're engaging in an a barrier to make the "thing" you want seem worthwhile.
I dunno, I despise lines.
I'm not sure this person understands how lines work. They're not there to be a barrier between you to make something worthwhile, they're there because the venue isn't ready yet/there's not enough room for hundreds of people to get on a ride at the same time. Right?
Kombucha. Every, single one I've tried. Just undrinkable!
Getting black out drunk
A lot of popular modern rap music. There’s a lot of good stuff but there’s some where I’m like “seriously?”
Insanely spicy food.... stop it. You're crying and there is no way you are enjoying that for any other reason except to brag about how hot your food is.
Being forced to keep the economy going in spite of rising costs and lower incomes.
Surströmming. There is absolutely no way people in Sweden actually enjoy this can of puke.
Edit: As people are telling stories about their experiences with Surströmming I want to tell one of my own.
Once upon a time in Sweden, a mild summer in august, my family decided to host a dinner at our house for our friends. We had a lot of food of different kinds on the table and our friends brought some food with them as well. The weather was with us so we decided to eat on the porch outside. As we were getting ready to eat we decided it was time to open the cans…oh god! What occurred after have been stuck in my head for ages.
First came the smell, some of us almost puked, others kept their stoic faces on. But the craziest ones of us took a deep breath and said: “delicious”.
Shortly after, the invasion started. Hundreds upon hundreds of flies. There was chaos, crying, despair and my father screaming: “we have to get away from here.” We all grabbed what we could take and ran inside. Watched trough the windows as a cloud of flies descended upon the rest.
*heavy sigh*! aah yes, Sweden!
Open it outside... the can pops and it smells like the alien death of a thousand crabs on a hot summers day. I'd rather eat rusty nails with vinegar.
Small talk.
I'm happy to live in Northern-Germany. Smalltalk is not a thing Here. Even a greeting using more than one word ist Seen as being too talkative.
Nespresso coffee, no clue why people are willing to pay such a premium for burnt tasting coffee
Running.
ETA: Exercise of any kind really. I have ADHD and struggle with eating healthy and exercising. I’ve just never been able to find any consistency with it and part of it is I just don’t enjoy exercise no matter what I do, and I’ve tried a lot of things to make it better. I’m a therapist but we obviously have our struggles too, and this is one of my greatest challenges, especially after the past three years. I’ve appreciated all the comments and insights and am thinking about ways to get moving again!
Once my friend said to me "Let's go for a rum!". Obviously I got excited and said YES, but we ended up running for some reason. We never found any rum that day, but we're still running together and looking.
Other people
Going to a children's performance, especially if their own kids aren't currently on stage
Waking up before dawn, to work out
I.... like it. Going out when there's no one on the street, with my favourite podcast on. It's the best moment of the day.
Kale. Love eating many leafy greens, except kale.
I always add a little extra oil to mine, makes it so much easier to scrape into the trash 😈😂
Maintaining their jobs as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram personalities.
I *briefly* had *mild* success with a channel on YT 10 years ago and it was nowhere near the level things are now. And I see the production value and the regularity of some of the content. And I just think how much pressure these folks feel to feed the machine or perish.
They don't feel the need to "feed the machine", at least from experience and talking to people who are youtubers as a job. Most youtubers treat it exactly like they treat any other self employment job, many genuinely enjoy what they do and love entertaining people. It's not for everyone but it is genuinely enjoyed.
Eating healthy. I know it has a ton of benefits, and i try to keep my diet as healthy as possible for my good. But a lot of people who eat healthy stuff say that they enjoy it, and i really don't think they're being genuine.
Unhealthy food (burgers, pizza, fried chicken, coke, beer, etc) is more fun/instantly rewarding for people in general.
I enjoy a good burger, but I do eat healthy 90% of the time. I really do just enjoy fresh food and my body feels far more amazing. I don’t find junk to be rewarding - if you’re not used to it, more than treat here and there can make you quite sick.
Vegan “cheese”
If you've ever tried to melt this abomination over a veggie burger, you would be better off doing a double back flip into a volcano.
That nasty fermented shark they over in Iceland.
Being a parent to Kids aged 0-2.
Vaping, seriously what the hell is the appeal? Especially if you didn’t smoke cigarettes before vaping.
Edit: Probably should’ve clarified, I’m strictly talking about nicotine. I still believe there are many better ways to intake weed, but vaping a weed pen makes a little more sense to me than picking up a nicotine habit for no reason.
Top 40 music. I cant be the first one to say that
Playing tag with a four year old. You have to let them win all the time to not make them cry you have to run really slow and you have to look like you're enjoying it.
Starbucks. There is no way people actually like burnt coffee.
Living in a conversion vehicle like a van, like a short look into #VanLife and you'll find all kinds of people that say they love their gray water tank. No you don't. You're s******g in a tub and driving it around.
I've travelled several countries in vans I've converted to campevans. Always have a campervan, just spent 9 months travelling around Australia in mountain biking, snorkeling, surfing hiking every day. It's fantastic. Spent a total of just over 6 years living in a van with my partner in different countries and we both love it.
It probally works for some percentage of the populace.
But I believe most people aren't too contempt with having plans all the time, and the only valid excuse for not having plans or making them, is because they have other plans.
I usually try and tell my coworkers it sounds amazing, when they on rare occasions tell me they dont have any plans for the weekend.
Not doing s**t sometimes, is very healthy for mental health is my belief.
I used to think people pretended to like olives. I’d eat them if they were in a dish but I didn’t like them. A few years of that and suddenly I’m buying olives to eat on their own. Acquired the taste I suppose.
Contemporary design trends. The all white/grey homes with rendered exteriors are so lifeless and all look the same. There's no way people actually want this, right??
Tbh, I'd want one. Maybe not exactly *white*, as it's a very impractical and difficult to maintain. But having an apartment in grey scale, with small hints of teals and greens? It would actually look nice. But I strongly dislike vivid colours, maybe that's why I'd enjoy it.
Coworkers. Like really. Coworkers
80% / 20% rule applies here... 80% of them are always not worth more than a hello
Tbh the more expensive a meal is, the shittier it gets. (I personally think it starts declining after $30-$50)
Or it might just be that I'm a simple man who likes cheap food, idk.
People being fake in place of realness. Personally I have problems being fake because assumedly it's a part of life.
example? Everyone puts on a face for each circumstance. You do not act the same in front of your beer buddies as you do on a first date. That's just how we are.
Anything that is described as being an "acquired taste."
Oh so you didn't enjoy it at first but continued to do it out of peer pressure until it stopped being repulsive? That's not enjoyment that's Stockholm Syndrome!
Going by this I would eat zero vegetables and ruin my health by living off chicken nuggets and chocolate. Glad I'm capable of learning to enjoy other things.
My presence
I can barely stand my own presence much of the time. Get away from me, me!
Peeps
Hard liquor. I’m fine with being told someone likes to be buzzed but don’t tell me you genuinely enjoy the taste of that. They don’t make whiskey flavored sports drinks for a reason.
"...don't tell me you genuinely enjoy the taste of it..." the audacity! Yes! Yes they do. If you don't like it, that's fine too, but don't take your taste as universal.
Raisins.
They’re just bad, wrinkly grapes. That tiny little grape in a punnet of actual grapes that never really got to be a grape would be considered the best raisin in the packet. I will die on this hill.
Ugh. All of these can be boiled down to "*I* personally don't like this (or that), so no one else possibly can"! It's fine to have opinions, but remember: other people are not you. They like different things and don't think & experience the world the same way you do.
Exactly, different strokes for different folks.
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What a sad life people must lead. Looking at everything with disdain and lethargy. This just sounds like depression in word form.
... this is exactly how i felt after reading all this. Sure some things I like and some I don't like. But this sounds like a depression
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Same here! I honestly don’t know what has happened to this site from the constant censorship, banning users, and rise of reposted content from Reddit. It used to be a site that posted quirky articles an artwork and now I’m scared to comment on anything that goes against the majority for fear of getting banned.
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Ugh. All of these can be boiled down to "*I* personally don't like this (or that), so no one else possibly can"! It's fine to have opinions, but remember: other people are not you. They like different things and don't think & experience the world the same way you do.
Exactly, different strokes for different folks.
Load More Replies... What a sad life people must lead. Looking at everything with disdain and lethargy. This just sounds like depression in word form.
... this is exactly how i felt after reading all this. Sure some things I like and some I don't like. But this sounds like a depression
Load More Replies... Same here! I honestly don’t know what has happened to this site from the constant censorship, banning users, and rise of reposted content from Reddit. It used to be a site that posted quirky articles an artwork and now I’m scared to comment on anything that goes against the majority for fear of getting banned.
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